Health Minister plays down severity of medicines shortage on government formulary

Only a few medicines provided by the government for free are out of stock and only for a few days, the Health Minister said.

Chris Fearne said the shortages were more prevalent in the private sector but government was doing its utmost to help importers source medicines.

“Out of the 2,000 or so medicines that government imports for free distribution through the Pharmacy of Your Choice scheme, only singular items have been out of stock and only for a few days,” Fearne said on Wednesday.

He insisted this was not a budgetary issue but a global problem caused by a sudden increase in demand following higher sickness rates with the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere.

Government spent €64 million on medicines last year and the budget for this year is almost four times more at €230 million, Fearne said.

“This is a worldwide issue since this is the first winter after COVID restrictions were lifted and more people developed flu symptoms at a time when suppliers are still adjusting to the higher demand,” he added.

The scarcity of some medicines is likely to persist for some more months until production ramps up, especially in China and India where most active substances used in medicines are produced.

Fearne said government was mitigating the problem by sourcing medicines and their alternatives from different suppliers.